LINA BERTUCCI
WOMEN IN THE TATTOO SUBCULTURE
NOVEMBER 28, 2007 – JANUARY 5, 2008
OPENING RECEPTION: WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 6-8 PM
New York – (November 19, 2007), Perry Rubenstein Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new photographs by Lina Bertucci. Bertucci’s most recent photographic series explores the fluctuating periphery between exhibitionism and marginalization through the ritualized practice of tattooing.
Bertucci’s portraits reveal psychological tensions between the pursuit of inner conviction and a desire to seek out trend. The collecting of tattoos, although personal in acquisition, in turn becomes a claim for connection and alignment; or perhaps the opposite, a desire for segregation and opposition to the mainstream.
Compelled to examine this contemporary subculture, Bertucci traveled to various tattoo conventions in the United States and abroad, photographing women ages 19 to 59 both in her studio and on location. Here, Bertucci chooses to frame her subjects in simple, timeless poses that both formally accentuate the female figure and poetically delineate their illustrious tattoos. Bertucci’s imagery and execution can be referenced back to classical portrait paintings, yet contradicts the historical view of the ‘anonymous muse’ by including image titles that reveal a name, age and occupation. This incongruity renders a complex window through which the viewer’s perspective of time and era is blurred.
Bertucci lives and works in New York City. Bertucci completed her M.F.A in photography at Pratt Institute in New York and received her B.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin. Bertucci in known extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe, with exhibitions at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Per l’Arte, Turin, Italy; P.S.1, New York; Hara Museum, Tokyo; and, the Chicago Cultural Center.